2012 RTB - Mine Falls Milers Edition

203 miles from Cannan Mt to Hampton Beach NH (it must be downhill, right?). 12 fairly competitive, injury-free (at the moment) 40+ year old guys (most with years of experience running this relay). Defending Super Masters champ (with the runner up team returning with hopes of knocking us off the podium). Near perfect weather. Zero confidence.

I blame the lack of snow last winter. Please explain, you say? Here goes - snow means snowshoe racing. Snowshoe racing means strength and speed work in the winter. Winter strength and speed work means great fitness early in the running season. Great fitness means decent racing results early in the season. Decent racing results leads to more racing. More racing leads to better run fitness. Better run fitness lets me coast through the summer (because I HATE running in the heat), even with less weekly miles (while maintaining decent run fitness). Finally, a late summer ramp up to get in RTB shape is generally quite doable.

Until this year. No snow = no snowshoe racing = no early fitness = awful early results = no racing in spring and summer. Add in what seemed like weeks of 90 degree days and you get a person with zero confidence signed up for a 24hr 200+ mile relay and expected (according to Capt Mike) to avg 6:30 min/mile pace.

2012 Mine Falls Milers at the Finish

Sometimes all you need is a goal (and a van full of nagging masters) to run to your potential. Really, I had no business running anywhere near 6:30 pace. June - 90 miles, July - 55 miles, August 60 miles. These are totals for the month. So 2 weeks before RTB I hung up my mountain bike and got serious about running, hammering out 25 and 30 mile weeks.

Well, a funny thing happened on the way to the beach. My magic spreadsheet had predicted me to run my 3 legs (15.4 miles total) in 1:40:13, for an average pace of 6:31. In the end, I finished in 1:39:55 with an average pace of 6:30. Well how about that, maybe Capt Mike wasn't so dumb after all!

Overall, we had a great team this year (our 7th, my 6th with MFM) with everyone right around the 6:30 pace +/- 10 seconds. No injuries, no mishaps, nothing. After 7 years this team really does run pretty smoothly and is all business once the race starts. Ok, maybe not all business but we at least take our running serious (not much else though). As the team gets faster, the less time we have to eat, sleep and screw up. 2012 was our fastest year to date as we finished 6th overall (out of 425 teams) and 1st in the Super Masters division (results) with a time of 21:45:48 (avg team pace of 6:26). I guess technically I slowed the team down but I'm still happy with my effort. Next year I really need to train a bit more.

 I thought the tables below were interesting (in a trivial sort of way). Kind of a different way to look at the relay (by van and by leg). Pretty even legs and pretty even vans. Of course, one of the penalties of being a "fast team" is the total lack of downtime between legs. The average downtime we had between legs was about 3hrs and 50min. During this time we had to drive to the next VTA (35+ miles), eat, sleep and get ready for our next run. Needless to say, most of us didn't sleep at all during this relay.

Mine Falls Milers Magic Data

I want to personally thank Mike Wade for being the yearly whipping boy (I mean Captain) for 6 of the 7 years. Sure he had some copilots helping along the way but we generally gave him the crap jobs nobody else wanted. Thanks for picking up the slack. According to Mike, he is retiring from RTB. The Mine Falls Milers will continue without him...unless we're all too lazy to step up.

2012 Pineland Farms 25k

I  know, Pineland Farms (results) was so 'last month'. What's the point writing about it over a week later? Not sure. I wasn't even going to post anything but I figured since I pay big money for this blog I should at least get my monies worth out of it. It doesn't mean I'm going to put quality effort into it though.
My race report in bullet form:

• Drove up with Denis Tranchemontagne on Sunday morning. (note, I spelled that without looking it up. I'm not sure what that means) Uneventful 2hr ride.
• No warm up, no pre-race routine. Someone mentioned it was almost 10 and it didn't even register they were referring to the start of the race. Weird.
• Averaging 30 mpw with essentially no long runs apparently makes me smarter. I seated myself way back, not tempted by my common foes (who were all in front of me).
• The first 5k should have felt easy. It did not. I had stomach cramps almost immediately after starting. Only 24k more to go! Yippie.
• Kept Mike Wade (GCS) and Chris Dunn (aR) in sight (maybe 20 seconds ahead of me) for the first 10k. They weren't falling back and I wasn't gaining. 
• Stomach feeling better.
• Kurt Berna (GCS) was literally my shadow for first 15k of the race.
• Sunny, mid 70's but much drier (humidity wise) than previous years. The breeze was refreshing in the woods. The sun was depressing in the fields. Zero sum game.
• Caught up to Mike in the 3rd 5k section (before the grove). No Chris though. Chris had 1:30ish on us as we passed by the grove.
• Tried to separate from Mike as we left the grove and crossed the road. Had a good gap (so I thought) but the bum caught me (and flew by me) on one of the screaming downhill sections. He looked like he got his second wind. I thought he was gone.
• Feeling better, running better in the 4th 5k section. Caught up to Mike (again). Worked hard on separating from him (again). Dropped the bum (again).
• Continued to work the last 5k section hard. I know it's either short or fast. I like to think fast but I know it's short. Doesn't matter. It's the same as last year.
• Caught a glimpse of Capt Dunn midway through the last 5k. He had no idea I was behind him until I was nearly next to him. He was hiding his pain well. I thought he looked good.
• We were side by side as we entered the last field. I was still pushing the pace but shortly after we entered the field I thought I was done. Dizzy, tired, hungry, legs were heavy. Chris was worse.
• I separated from Chris just a little in the last 2k, finishing just a head of him with a time of 1:57:37. Totally exhausted. No complaints.
• Still waiting for Mike to finish.

At the grove - photo credit Gianna Lindsey

Gianna aR pictures located here --> 2012 Pineland Pics


Comparison to last year.
Conclusion - you get slower when you get older OR you get slower when you run less.

	2012	2011
5k Split	22:15	21:09
10k Split	24:50	24:17
15k Split	25:04	25:02
20k Split	24:21	24:32
25k Split	21:07	20:27
FINISH	1:57:37	1:55:27

Competitive Fire

Probably the biggest thing I missed during my running hiatus this summer was the competition that comes with racing. I don't mean the actual competitors (although I'm sure I missed some of them too!), but the actual act of competing. I love to race. Not because I'm an elite athlete. Not because I need to win. Not because I need another t-shirt or medal. But because I have a constant desire to push myself. To work harder. To get faster. When I sign up for yet another race, Deb usually says "I can't help myself" but I think we're on the same page. I think she know I need to race.
The lack of running didn't bother me nearly as much as the lack of racing. I can always find something else to do to stay in shape or fill the time (mostly). I got used to not running. I mountain biked. I had fun. But I wasn't racing. It's amazing how annoying social media can be when you can't do what you like to do (especially when 90% of my FB friends are runners). Man, did you guys bug me!

I've now been running for about 3 months.  I can't say I've got that competitive fire yet, but at least I have the pilot lit. I've taken it real slow (a little gun shy about getting injured again), maybe even too slow. I generally average about 30 miles a week. That's fine for staying in shape but it's not enough if you want to get faster. I have been racing a bit, which can be tough this time of year. It seems the rest of the running world is winding down and I'm trying to ramp up. Not a lot of races to choose from but I found a few. I ran a couple of 5k trail races in November on the familiar trails of Mine Falls. I ran The Great Gobbler 5k Trail Race on Thanksgiving (only the second time I've ever run a race on Thanksgiving, believe it or not). Finally, this past weekend I had the lead off leg of one of our Mens Masters team at the Mill Cities Relay. Considering I averaged nearly 6:40's for a 5k in September (might be a PW), I guess I should be happy with 6:15's for 5.4 miles. I am not complaining. I'm just happy to be running again and more importantly, racing again. Time to ramp up the miles. Watch your back, I might be right behind you!

RANDOM NOTE: I took some pictures on legs 3, 4 and 5 after running my leg on Sunday. Feel free to share with anyone who ran the Mill Cities Relay.

2011 Mill Cites Relay Pictures

2010 Mill Cities Relay

MCR (results) is an invitation only (Merrimack Valley running clubs) 5-person 27.1 mile relay from Nashua, NH to Lawrence, MA. It probably has the highest member participation of any event all year. With 20+ clubs and 200+ teams, it's where all the cool kids go on the first Sunday in December.
I've run in the Mill Cities Relay every year since joining the Gate City Striders in 2005. I take that back: in 2006 MCR wouldn't let me run because of an idiotic 'rule'. Even though I was a dues paying, active member of GCS, I ran one USATF race in 2006 for the Moose Milers racing team (in March). This somehow made me ineligible to run for GCS. I'm not bitter though.... :-)   (For the record, that rule is no longer in place).I'll get down off my soapbox now.

For the 2nd year in a row I'd be running on a Coed Masters team. Last year I was fortunate enough to be teamed up with some fast teammates and we won the Coed Masters division. This year I was teamed up with all new teammates (hmm, should I read into this?). Just to be clear, I don't pick my teammates. The Gate City Striders pay Michael Wade big bucks to waste hours of his own time arranging 140 runners into 30 teams in 12 different divisions in order to put our club in the best position to score enough points to win the Mill Cities Trophy. All I have to do is show up. My kind of relay!

This year I'd be teamed up with Randy Macneill (leg 1- 5.6m), Julie Hanover (leg 2- 4.75m), Carla Chandler (leg 3- 2.5m), Joe Rogers (leg 4- 9.5m) and I'd be running the 5th leg (4.75m) for the 2nd year in a row. I had some reservations about running this year. The event is fine, but I've felt a bit off the last month or so. I certainly have not felt fast (mostly tired). I was actually thinking about taking a whole week off from running.....gasp!

I kind of like running the last leg. There is no stress in getting to my leg on time and I get to watch the entire relay unfold. This year I hung out at the 1st and 2nd transition areas and took some pictures before finally driving down to Methuen to hang out at my transition area, parking my car about 100m before the actual hand-off area. I really didn't know exactly when Joe would arrive but guessed it would be around 10:30am. I got dressed and was ready to go by 10:15am and was thinking about going for a short warm up (since it was bloody cold out). As I stood by my car talking to Keith Obrien I happened to see Joe running by. Whoops, I guess I'll have to skip the warm up and I raced Joe up the hill to the transition area, getting there just in time to snag the baton and head off on my run. That wasn't planned very well :-)

Leg 5 elevation profile

Leg 5 starts off fairly flat for the first 2 miles, climbs a decent hill in mile 3, descends in mile 4 and is flat as a pancake in the last mile. Last year I went out a little quick and suffered on the hill a bit. I had a decent time (28:30) but it wasn't easy. This year I tried to go out a little easier in the first couple of miles and work a little harder on the hill. I felt fairly comfortable as I hit the first mile in 5:43 (really?) but decided to back off a bit so I wouldn't repeat last years effort on the hill. I have to admit I was pleasantly surprised by my time. I decided not to check my watch again until the finish. I passed a half dozen runners in the first mile or so but generally ran alone the rest of the way. When you take the final turn you can see the finish but it's probably a 1/2 mile away. I saw another runner pretty far ahead and was definitely gaining but there was no way I was going to catch them. I crossed the line with a leg time of 28:07 (5:55 avg) and a team time of 2:48:32, good for 2nd Coed Masters team, 20th team overall. It turns out the runner I saw in front of me was the winning Coed Masters team. They finished 14 seconds ahead of us!

Big thanks to all the GCS runners (especially Michael Wade) for putting together an incredible team effort. The Gate City Striders took home the Mill Cities Trophy for the 3rd year in a row!

2010 Mill Cities Champs

Outdoor Track Comes to a Close

Last night was our final outdoor track workout of the season. In Gate City Striders tradition, we had our 4-person night relay race. The track is lined with candle luminaries and relay batons become glow sticks. Teams are chosen at random and each person runs 400m (4 times).
I had recovered well from my marathon on Sunday, mountain biking Monday and Tuesday and running 5 miles prior to track. Legs were still a little tired but I figured I could run easy and just have fun. Yeah, right.

Joe R would lead off, followed by Lee, myself and anchored by Keith O. For most of the 4 mile relay we had a good battle going with dysfunctional team of Michael Wade and friends (I'm pretty sure no one on his team ran a marathon...slowly, this weekend). In the end, we finished in 2nd, just a few seconds back. This supposedly fun workout turned out to be much harder than I thought and I was a hurtin' pup at the end.

My laps were: 70s, 74s, 74s and 74s and we finished up with a total time of 21:53. In retrospect, I would not recommend speed work 3 days after a marathon.

Indoor track starts January 4th!

Baystate Long Run

Not much to say about this one. I was ready. I was rested. I had some nice races leading up to it that convinced me I was on track for a PR. My plan was simple. It was either going to be a goal race or it was going to be a 3+hr long run. I went with plan B. For whatever reason it wasn't going to happen yesterday. I knew it early on but pushed ahead as long as I could. Baystate broke my goal but not my spirits!

Mile 26 - photo credit Scott Mason

I was VERY thankful to all the Gate City Striders out there cheering us on and offering words of encouragement. They were everywhere! They helped me keep a positive attitude throughout the entire race and even have a little fun (I tagged off to the next runner at the Gate City Tent (Lowell Boat House) hoping this was Mill City Relays but no one took off so I had to finish the last 3 miles instead). Scotty "you will soon be an Ironman" Graham was everywhere as well, shadowing me on his bike on my second loop for a while. I was going so slow at that point that he was having a hard time staying upright on his bike. I think he said it looked like I was carrying a piano on my back....only 6 more miles to go! Gee, thanks Scott!

I won't bore you with my splits. I will say I was running fairly consistent 6:40's right through mile 14. Five miles later I was running 8:15's, all the way to the finish. It wasn't a death march and I didn't cramp up, I just couldn't run any faster. I finished in 3:10:44.

Surprisingly my legs feel pretty good today. Maybe it's because I run my long runs faster. Glad it's over. Now I can get back to running and not training!

Ultimate Runner, Ultimate Consistency

Near the finish of the 5k...painful.

Wednesday night was our annual Ultimate Runner night at track (results). Our club puts on a age and gender graded competition during the break between spring and fall outdoor track sessions. The competition consists of running a 400m, 800m, 1 mile and 5k race all in one night. On paper it seems kind of fun, in reality it's much harder than it looks. I wrote about Ultimate Runner in more detail last year if you're interested
Once again temps were in the low 90's and sunny (sound familiar?). Have I mentioned this is my least favorite weather to run in? Probably. Anyways, nothing outstanding to write about this year. I took it easy (relatively speaking) in the shorter events, hoping to have a decent 5k. Long story short, I got a stomach cramp shortly after the 1st mile in the 5k and really struggled just to finish. Not sure if it was heat related or not. Legs were fine.

So, not a great night but I'm glad I did it anyways. Lots of fast masters out there! I thought the interesting part was comparing my times from last year to this year. Almost scary consistent, which at my age I should be grateful for!

	2009	2010
	Actual	Actual
400m	01:07	01:08
800m	02:31	02:32
1M	05:34	05:27
5k	19:06	19:08
	2009	2010
	Age Graded	Age Graded
400m	01:00	01:00
800m	02:16	02:16
1M	05:05	04:57
5k	17:44	17:37

Last year I finished 5th overall, this year I finished 4th. In three more years I should win this thing!

Photo credit - Jim Rhoades from Coolrunning

Weekend Racing - NOT

Sure, I would have loved to do some racing this past weekend. Surprisingly, I did the right thing and opted not to race, choosing to head out with the camera instead.
Saturday
Little did I know I'd become part of history at the Rivah (aka the Merrimack River 10m Trail Race). Turns out this out/back race had more photographers per mile than any race in history. No less than 6 different folks took at least 2,388 photos. I had no idea, as I drove directly to an access road approximately 2 miles in. So if you raced and can't find a good picture of yourself, you have other problems :-)

4 x Awful

I've been dreading this workout ever since indoor track began 6 weeks ago. I prefer 800's or even 400's with short recovery. Well tonight we did 4 x 1 mile repeats with 800 recovery. I never got into a comfortable groove or pace, and my 400 splits were all over the board. Normally I have a good sense of pace but not tonight. I felt off all night. Maybe it was my negative attitude towards this particular workout. The goal going in was to run consistent 85s quarters (5:40 pace). Although my times weren't that bad, the splits were. Trust me.
I stuck with it anyways and finished the workout....with lots of complaining.

mile 1   5:43
mile 2   5:40
mile 3   5:49
mile 4   5:49

Indoor Track Season has Begun

Last night was our first indoor winter track session at the Hampshire Dome in Milford NH, my favorite indoor track (actually, it's the only one I've ever run on indoors). We had a pretty good turnout as usual. Good to see so many folks willing to work on their running during the winter months.

After feeling sort of flat during my MCR leg on Sunday, I was hoping for a little life in my legs at track. With so many runners they broke us up into 3 groups based on pace. I was in group 1 with Joe R, Dan M and Mike W...all fast guys and all masters. The workout was 8 x 400's with 200m rest. The first week is generally easy just to get us in the swing of things. Since the track is roughly 1/5 of a mile, its a little harder to judge your pace during the lap and 1/4ish it takes to makes up 400m. So for me, it takes a few repeats to work on pace and get into a groove. I started with what I initially thought was a fast lap, slowed a bit too much on the 2nd and then settled into fairly repeatable laps. After 8 repeats I stopped for some water but then joined up with Mike W for 3 additional 400's...just for fun!

Times for each lap were:

1. 78 sec
   
2. 83 sec
   
3. 80 sec
   
4. 78 sec
5. 78 sec
6. 79 sec
7. 75 sec (felt really good so I pushed the pace a bit)
8. 77 sec
9. 82 sec
10. 82 sec
11. 78 sec

 I think for the 1st workout of the season I even surprised myself. Going into the workout I was thinking I'd run 83-85 sec per 400 but honestly, 78-80 felt pretty good...comfortably hard. I looked back at last years 1st workout (same workout) and I was closer to the 82-84 range. Faster than last year? I hope so!

26th Annual Mill Cities Relay

Yesterday I took part in the Mill Cities Relay (results), a 27.1 mile 5-person relay from Nashua NH to Lawrence MA. If you don't live in the Merrimack Valley you probably never heard of it. This invitation-only club event includes 20+ running clubs from the Merrimack Valley (NH & MA) and has grown to over 200+ teams and 1000+ runners.
I was running the 5th leg of a great Coed Masters team (The WereWolfes of Lawrence) so I had a chance to drive along the course and take a few pictures. You can check them out here.

 

Kevin McIntyre, Leg 1, 5.6 miles

 

 Karen Pattelena, Leg 2, 4.75 miles

 

 Tammy Gaffey, Leg 3, 2.5 miles

 

photo credit - Michael Wade 

Jeff Hunt handing off to me at the final transition

The recent snow and cold weather only played a minor role this year (unlike last year), with just a few icy spots to deal with (pretty much on every leg). Other than that it was a great day for racing.

Our club (Gate City Striders) were the defending champions and we were looking to repeat. With 127 runners on 27 teams (covering all 13 categories), we were ready for the challenge. Thanks to Michael Wade for spending untold hours contacting runners and setting up the teams to give our club the best chance at winning. In the end his magic formula did just that, giving the Gate City Striders the Club Championship for the 2nd year in a row!

Total Points for Each Club
   Gate City Striders              106
   Winners Circle Running Club      99
   North Medford Club               80
   Somerville Road Runners          76
   Greater Derry Track Club         63
   Whirlaway Racing Team            43
   Greater Lowell Road Runners      41
   Shamrock Running Club            41
   New Hampshire Athletic Alliance  30
   Merrimack Valley Striders        30
   North Shore Striders             26
   Wicked Running Club              24
   Squannacook River Runners        19
   Mystic Runners                   14
   Gil's Athletic Club              11
   Andover Striders                 10
   Melrose Running Club              9
   Sandown Rogue Runners             5
   SISU                              0

Check out how we did in each of the 13 categories. Pretty strong & balanced showing across the board. Congrats to all teams.

Male Open - 2nd
Male Masters - 2nd
Male Seniors - 3rd
Male Veterans - 3rd
Male Ancients - 1st

Female Open - 2nd
Female Masters - 1st
Female Seniors - 3rd
Female Veterans - 1st

Coed Open - 1st
Coed Masters - 1st
Coed Seniors - 4th
Coed Veterans - 3rd

Everything worked out just fine and no real issues to speak of (other than a minor baton problem in leg 1). This is a tough race to really know what your position is during the race. So unless you recognize other runners, your finishing position tends to be a mystery until they post the results. For me, none of this changes the way I run my leg. Everyone is an equal opportunity competitor. If I can pass you, I will. If I can hold you off, I will. If you pass me, I get mad (but I won't hold it against you). In the case of my leg, I was able to do all three, passing 2 runners, getting smoked by Paul Doe and holding off a charging Goon Squad Coed team.
I never felt great during my run but I'm not complaining (much). After hitting the first mile in 5:51 and getting passed by Paul Doe at the same time, I settled into a more manageable pace for me as we climbed a modest hill between miles 2 and 3. I missed the next couple of mile markers so pace was a mystery from 2 miles on.
In the end we finished 14th overall in 2:47:55 (6:12 pace), 1st in the Coed Masters Division. For our efforts we get a brick! Congrats to my teammates!!

As for my 4.75 mile leg, I finished with a time of 28:30, 6:00 pace even. Of course my car was still at the previous transition area so as soon as I finished my leg I turned around and ran the leg in reverse back to my car (and yes, I got more than my share of "you're going the wrong way" comments). Once I got my car I started heading back to Lawrence for the post race party. As I was waiting for the light to change I spotted a familiar face standing in the cold...teammate Jeff Hunt. After running 9.5 miles he discovered a snafu with his transportation. His car was supposed to be at the end of his run. It wasn't. So he's been standing in the cold for over an hour, freezing his arse off. I picked him up, cranked up the heat (and heated seats!) and went looking for his car. We found it, making its way back to the transition area...finally. He survived and lived to run another day :-)

Quality workout = tired legs

I'll admit it, I tend to whine a bit whenever the repeats are greater than 800m (just ask Mike W). For some strange reason I just don't like running at max heart rate for more than a couple of minutes. I'm an endurance guy, not a speed guy. That's my story and I'm sticking to it.

On Wednesday I took my complaints to the track and did the workout anyways, to the joy of Mike Wade, Mike Wright and Jim Hansen I'm sure. For the most part we all ran the workout together, pushing and pulling each other along the way. Definitely easier to do a workout like this with a group.

The workout:
3200m @ 10k pace
800 rest
1600m @ 10k pace
400m rest
1200m @ 10k pace
400m rest
800m @ 10k pace
200m rest
400m @ 10k pace
200m rest
400m @ 10k pace

The result:
3200m @ 6:13 pace
1600m @ 6:01 pace
1200m @ 5:57 pace
800m @ 5:55 pace
400m @ 5:26 pace
400m @ 5:22 pace

Sometimes I wonder when we do a track workout if it has any purpose or is the coach just trying to kill us for his personal amusement. Tonight it clicked. The workout seemed to have a purpose and talking with Coach Jim after the workout confirmed it. The purpose was to simulate race conditions, start out a little more controlled (not slow) and slowly increase the pace, finishing strong (and tired) at the end. The result is much more satisfying than going out like a flash and limping in at the end.

Although tough, it was a quality workout. Unfortunately my recoveries are not as fast as they used to be. I attempted a 9 mile run last night. My legs were tired, sore, fatigued and a slew of other adjectives so I cut my run short (3.2 miles) and headed for home. Another day.

Ultimate Runner Night

Last night was Ultimate Runner Night (results) at track, a GCS only event that is both competitive and fun. Ultimate Runner is a multiple event competition which includes the 400m, 800m, 1 mile and finally a 5k trail race. Ah you say, the fast guy wins, end of competition. How is that fun for the rest of us? Well not so fast. On this night we used age-graded timing which is a way of leveling the playing field regardless of age or sex. Runners would be ranked based on their age-graded times for each event and the runner with the highest rank after 4 events would be named the Ultimate Runner.

Although most of us train at these distances regularly, not many of us actually race at these shorter distances. Trying to figure out how fast to run each event without blowing up in the next was a popular topic all night. When you add in the mystery of age-graded timing, all of a sudden how old you were was important again. The problem was I never really knew how close I had to be to the young guns or how far in front (if possible) I had to be to our senior runners, hence the mystery. That was the fun part.

The events:

400m
Due to the record number of participants this year, the 400m was run in 3 heats and I was in the last heat. My heat had a bunch of familar faces so I had an idea where I should fit in, theoretically. I quickly tucked in behind Mark Wimmer and decided to just pace off of him, finishing one second back in 67 seconds. Oooh, this would be a long day. One event down and my hammies were screaming already.

After one event my age-graded time (60 sec) placed my 4th overall. Hmm, not bad.

800m
This time we had 2 heats and once again I ran in the last heat. Same cast of characters though. Half way thru the 800 I could already feel the effects of the previous 400 event and slowed more than I had hoped and couldn't stay with the group in front of me, finishing in 2:31.

My new best friend age-graded timing mercifully adjusted my time to 2:16, 7th overall. This was not a good run. The 800m is my favorite track distance (in training, not racing) and I felt I should have done better. On to the next event!

(photo credit: Rich Blake)

1 Mile
The mile would be a mass start of all participants. This was easily my least favorite distance of the night. I'm a distance man (aka slow and easy!). My mistake on this one was going into the race without a plan. I had no idea what pace I was going to run, had no idea what splits I should check for, nothing. I was all over the board on splits, well not really all over, more like a steady decline as in crash and burn. Did I mention I hated this distance? Finished in 5:35, should have been closer to 5:20 in my little mind.

I placed 7th overall with an age-graded time of 5:05.

5k Trail
Finally, the last event. Going into the 5k I believe I was in 5th overall (combined events) but the top 5 were all pretty close in rankings, or at least that's what Steve Moland had us believe :-)
The 5k was a nearly pancake flat course in Mine Falls along the canal, finishing with one lap on the track. I was actually a little surprised that it didn't suck as much as I thought it would. I had some problems with footing (still had my racing flats on) on the trails but felt reasonably strong considering we'd already raced 3 events prior. My splits were ok as well (for me anyways):
mile 1 5:57
mile 2 6:18
mile 3 6:11
finishing in 19:05.

(photo credit: Dave Delay)

For the 5k my age-graded time was 17:44 placing me 5th overall in this event.

Ultimate Runner
So who was named the Ultimate Runner for 2009? Congrat's to Tim Burke with his come from behind win!

The top 5 runners were:
(Name, age, age-graded %)

1. Tim Burke 46 74.41%
2. Dan Moriarity 40 74.32%
3. John Lewicke 61 73.87%
4. Mark Wimmer 38 73.15%
5. Steve Wolfe 45 73.06%

Note on what the percentages actually mean:

These percentages can be interpreted as follows:
100% = Approximate World-Record Level
Over 90% = World Class
Over 80% = National Class
Over 70% = Regional Class
Over 60% = Local Class

One final note: 3 of the top 5 runners (Tim, Mark and myself) are all on the same Reach the Beach team this year.

Aging Up and Track

Yesterday was my birthday, and as someone mentioned to me yesterday, "you're not getting older, you're aging up!". Although still a masters, I've now moved into the 45-49 age group. Of course most races don't have a 45-49 category but if they do, I'll be ready!

GCS had their weekly track workout last night. The attendance this year has been amazing (at least to me). They've always had a decent turnout but this year is different. It's almost crowded on the track and can feel like running through the mall at times. By now, most are aware of basic track etiquette so it's generally not a problem.

The large crowd is divided into 5 groups (I think) of differing abilities (group 1 is the fastest). For the past couple of weeks I've been running with group 2 but decided to see if I could hang with the big boys in group 1 this week. The workout would be 10 x 400m repeats with 200m rest. My plan was to run 85 sec laps.

Lap 1 - 80 sec, trailing the group by a few seconds, way too fast, I think I may die.
Lap 2 - 82 sec, see lap one

Ok, so maybe I'm not ready for group 1 yet. I gathered my pride and headed over to the pedestrian-like group 2. Just kidding! This group of unnamed fast masters (mostly) were running 88 sec and 90 sec laps when I joined up. They are actually a really good group to run with and most of the 10+ runners stay pretty tightly packed. I tried to convince them to run a little faster ( as I was hoping for 85 sec repeats) but they would have none of it and was almost kicked out of the group before I even started.
The splits below are from my watch. Our coach was yelling out slightly different (aka faster) times and some in the group panicked and made me run in lane 4 couple of times in order to slow me down a bit (slightly longer laps). Trust me, this group knows when it's running off pace and they're not afraid to let you know! In the end I tried to pace them as consistently as I could and made sure the group was sticking together as much as possible. With a 15k race on Saturday, it was probably a good thing I wasn't able to run 85 sec laps.

Remaining Splits:
Lap 3 - 88 sec
Lap 4 - 88 sec
Lap 5 - 88 sec
Lap 6 - 88 sec
Lap 7 - 89 sec
Lap 8 - 88 sec
Lap 9 - 88 sec
Lap 10 - 86 sec

After the workout Mike Wade gave me with a nice Elmo birthday hat (that said "I'm 45 Today") and the group sang Happy Birthday. Ahh, wasn't that nice? I even wore my hat on my cool down run.

Mine Falls Summer Trail Series

Tonight begins the 12-week Mine Falls Summer Trail Series put on by the Gate City Striders. It's a nice, low key race held every Monday at 6:30pm, starting from the Stello's Stadium entrance to Mine Falls in Nashua.
Actually there are two races to choose from, a relatively flat 5k trail race run mostly on the well groomed trails along the canal and a slightly more challenging 5 mile trail race that takes advantage of some of the more technical single tracks in Mine Falls. In fact, the last mile runs along the Mill Pond Trail, one of my favorite trails in Mine Falls. For $5, you can't go wrong.

Don't be deterred by my description of slightly more challenging though. Unless it's pouring rain, regular running shoes are just fine. The 5 mile course has some rocks and roots but for the most part is a fairly easy, dry trail run. Heck, some of the times aren't that different from a road 5 mile race.

The past couple of years I've volunteered more than I've raced, marking the course or manning the water stop (or both). We even put mile markers out there for all you split-nazis, but I can't guarantee they're accurate (what do you want for $5?). This year I may try to sprinkle in a few races along with my volunteer duties. Who knows, you might even see me out there tonight :-)

Rhody 5k

Gate City Strider Teammates at Rhody

I headed down to Lincoln, RI today for the Rhody 5k (results), part of the New England Grand Prix Series. I really wanted to get a race under my belt after 5 weeks off due to some mysterious oblique injury, followed by 2 weeks of decent running.
I literally had zero expectations today and no pressure to speak of. This was purely a fitness test for me today.

It was a beautiful day, not a cloud in the sky and temps near 80 for the mens only 9:30am start. Unfortunately for me, a beautiful day does not make for a great racing day. I'd prefer it to be about 30 degrees cooler and overcast, especially since 3/4 of this race is run on the perimeter road of Twin River Casino at Lincoln Park Greyhound Park which means we run around the parking lot (this place is huge by the way). Actually, it wasn't that bad of a course and had its share of hills, nothing serious just enough to mix up the pace and keep you honest. Flat courses are boring.

As a side note, I started, ran and finished with my teammate Mike Merra. I can't recall a race that I ran with the same person the entire race from start to finish. Interesting (to me anyways).

Ok, the race: I wanted to go out real conservative and then try to pick up the pace as the race progressed. I went through the first mile in 6:08, but it felt too slow. My effort was too easy and I didn't feel like I was pushing hard enough. I mean, it's a 5k, it's not supposed to feel comfortable. Right after the mile marker was a nice gentle downhill followed by a long curving run around the perimeter of the parking lot (with a barely noticeable incline) and I hit the 2nd mile in 12:12 (6:04 2nd mile) with Mike by my side. Mike started to put a few yards on me and I almost gave up (aka let him go) but decided to try to stick with him and push the last mile as hard as I could. I was now running an uncomfortably hard 5k pace (which was good in a strange way).

Near the 3 mile mark

I passed Mike (that's him above with the hat on backwards) with about 1/2 mile to go and was afraid to look back and as always, ran scared. This race tactic works for me, helping me keep the gas on when I really just want to quit and walk. I hit the 3 mile mark at 18:05 (5:53 3rd mile) and was obviously tired. The last tenth of a mile heads down to the greyhound dog track with a sharp right then left up onto the banked corner of the track then about 100yds on the 'home stretch'. Nice novelty but a lousy way to end a race. You lose all sorts of speed and momentum getting onto the stupid track and running on a dirt track with racing flats doesn't do much for me.

So, overall I was very pleased with my 18:43 effort and the fact that each mile was faster than the last. Mike finished 5 seconds back with a PR! Nice job and thanks for the pull.
I'm slowly coming back, finally!

Splits:
Mile 1 6:08
Mile 2 6:04
Mile 3 5:53
Finish: 18:43 (6:02 avg)

Great Bay Half Marathon

It's been a rough training week following last weekend's 20-mile adventure on the seacoast. I guess I didn't realize how taxing that race really was. My legs weren't sore, just constantly fatigued and every run has been a struggle since. So with that in mind I decided to run a half marathon yesterday. Logic and common sense did not report to work this past week apparently.
I met up with Mark Wimmer and headed over to Newmarket for the 3rd annual (and my second) Great Bay Half Marathon, which happens to be the 1st New Hampshire Grand Prix race. I met up with my fellow Gate City Strider (and acidotic RACING) teammates in the gym and prepped for the race. It was a beautiful day, sunny and near 50 but a nasty wind was whipping in from the west. I had done my research and knew the headwinds would be along the 2nd half of Bay Rd (miles 7-9) and for most of the last 3 miles. Unfortunately, that did not mean we had tailwinds the rest of the way.
Mike Wade, Justin Soucy and myself headed out for a roughly 2 mile warm up on the course, changed and then headed over to the start. Did I mention it was windy?
They added a 5k to the venue this year which started at the same time as the half. About a 1/2 mile into the race the 5k'ers took a left and the rest continued straight. For such a large race (nearly 1500 runners) I was pretty surprised how well people seated themselves at the start, so other than a fast start the race started off pretty smooth.
Right from the start I found myself in a pack of familiar faces and most were teammates (a very good thing when you're running a club race). Mike Wade, Danny Ferreria and myself with Mike Wright leading the way. We would stay together nearly the entire race, occasionally swapping positions except for Mike Wright, he held a 30-50yd lead on all of us most of the way.
I learned a couple of things during the race. One, my legs were not yet recovered from last week. Most of the race was a struggle, with the effort far greater than it should have been for a half. Two, this course was harder than I remembered from last year (with more hills than I recalled). Part of the difficulty was the wind, with gusts that had to be in the 20-30mph range. To add to the carnage, the winds seemed to smack you on the flatter sections of the course. Just like my pre-race research had shown, miles 7-9 and the last 3 were tough and the field had stretched out a bit, leaving me exposed (so to speak) for most of the last 5 miles.
By mile 8 or 9 I had lost track of Mike Wade, Danny was in front by a few yds and Mike Wright was still holding at least a 50yd lead. I slowly gained on Danny and passed him at the belly dancers around mile 10. Coincidence? I think not. I think he was distracted...
I now had my sights on Mike Wright with 5k to go. I attempted to pick up the pace but the head winds on mile 11 were the toughest all day. It felt like one big hill. In fact, the winds were generally in our faces for the remainder of the race and only a few turns in town gave us some relief. Jerry Fitzgibbon hooked up with me on his bike just after mile 11 and provided some much needed encouragement over the last 1 1/2 miles which helped me pick off a few more runners and get close to Mike Wright but not close enough to pass, finishing in 1:25:11, roughly 6 seconds behind Mike. Not my best performance but considering the short rest and less than ideal conditions I guess I'll take it.
Scott Graham and Mark Wimmer somehow convinced me to go for a 2 mile cool down run after the race and several painful blisters did not make this a pleasant experience. Mark and I waited a bit for results to be posted but finally gave up and headed home around 2pm.

Splits for the day:

Mile 1 6:05
Mile 2 6:23
Mile 3 6:31
Mile 4 6:31
Mile 5 6:23 (31:54)
Mile 6 6:42
Mile 7 6:24
Mile 8 6:55
Mile 9 6:39
Mile 10 6:31 (1:05:06)
Mile 11 6:35
Mile 12 6:35
Mile 13 6:20
FINISH 1:25:11 (6:31 avg)

24th overall (1243 total)
6/93 in my age group

Complete results can be found here.

As far as the New Hampshire Grand Prix series, my club (Gate City Striders) kicked butt. As some of you know (and others continue to 'remind' me), I predicted early on in the season that Greater Derry would win the NHGP series this year. Apparently my evil plan is working, with huge numbers of Striders showing up just to prove me wrong! Keep up the good work.

Gate City Striders 147 points
Greater Derry Track Club 109 points
Granite State Racing Team 71 points
Rochester Runners 44 points
Monadnock Milers 20 points

Mt Washington - Good News/Bad News?

The 49th Annual Mt Washington Road Race posted the 'lottery' winners this afternoon and for the 5th time in 6 years (if I remember correctly) I didn't make the lottery list on the first pass.

Thankfully I have other options since my running club (Gate City Striders) gets a number of bypass numbers each year in exchange for volunteers. I've already inquired about a bypass number.

I'm just not sure if it's good news I didn't get picked in the lottery or bad news that I did get a bypass or the other way around. I have a love/hate relationship with this race.

Actually, I'm not all negative about this race. I've enjoyed it 4 out of 5 years. Unfortunately last year was the 1 out of 5 that I didn't. Think positive!

The picture above is from the 2005 race.

Gate City Striders at New Bedford

1951 total finishers.
Complete results can be found here.

Gate City Striders who ran New Bedford yesterday:
Hopefully I didn't' miss anybody.

Place	Name	Age	Sex	Div/Tot	Div	Finish	Pace
52	RICH SMITH	39	M	3/143	M3539	1:12:29	5:32
131	ERIK KREES	35	M	8/143	M3539	1:18:41	6:01
133	RANDY MACNEILL	47	M	11/168	M4549	1:18:51*	6:01
154	STEVE WOLFE	44	M	29/171	M4044	1:19:55	6:06
169	JOSEPH ROGERS	41	M	32/171	M4044	1:20:33	6:09
213	MICHAEL WADE	40	M	35/171	M4044	1:23:07	6:21
238	STEVE TOMASI	51	M	12/157	M5054	1:23:50	6:24
269	JEREMIAH FITZGIBBON	52	M	17/157	M5054	1:25:22	6:31
276	CHRIS BOUGOPOULOS	35	M	25/143	M3539	1:25:43	6:33
281	DAN FERREIRA	26	M	54/137	M2529	1:26:00	6:34
286	LEN HALL	55	M	3/88	M5559	1:26:14*	6:35
338	KAREN LONG	43	F	8/128	F4044	1:28:12*	6:44
344	KAREN PATTELENA	40	F	10/128	F4044	1:28:25*	6:45
378	JIM BELANGER	54	M	31/157	M5054	1:29:43	6:51
405	KEITH O'BRIEN	44	M	52/171	M4044	1:30:33	6:55
426	JIM VELINO	49	M	39/168	M4549	1:31:12	6:58
450	DANIEL HOUSTON	47	M	45/168	M4549	1:31:58	7:01
461	STEVE PIPER	53	M	37/157	M5054	1:32:13	7:03
476	AMBER CULLEN	26	F	32/147	F2529	1:32:38	7:04
513	CALLIE HARTNETT	20	F	6/73	F1924	1:33:43	7:09
524	DONNA PITTS	26	F	35/147	F2529	1:34:02	7:11
539	TOM KOLB	53	M	46/157	M5054	1:34:20	7:12
552	TAMMY GAFFEY	41	F	17/128	F4044	1:35:02	7:15
569	JULIE HANOVER	39	F	20/134	F3539	1:35:19	7:17
580	JOHN LEWICKE	61	M	6/49	M6064	1:35:34	7:18
645	RICH STOCKDALE	58	M	19/88	M5559	1:37:32	7:27
673	LESLIE REAP	38	F	24/134	F3539	1:38:37	7:32
676	DAN DUGGAN	35	M	71/143	M3539	1:38:44	7:32
725	DAVID CONTRADA	51	M	74/157	M5054	1:39:56	7:38
743	JANICE PLATT	43	F	32/128	F4044	1:40:44	7:42
814	DENNY LEBLANC	67	M	2/19	M6569	1:42:42	7:51
848	PAUL JOYCE	51	M	90/157	M5054	1:43:27	7:54
876	STEVE MOLAND	65	M	3/19	M6569	1:44:22	7:58
955	ROBERT KNIGHT	64	M	18/49	M6064	1:46:34	8:08
1047	ROBERT LUDWIG	68	M	5/19	M6569	1:49:14	8:20
1054	ALISON FINDON	37	F	39/134	F3539	1:49:25	8:21
1055	JOHN GREEN	45	M	111/168	M4549	1:49:25	8:21
1079	DICK DOYLE	61	M	23/49	M6064	1:50:01	8:24
1279	TOM CONLEY	55	M	55/88	M5559	1:55:52	8:51
1308	STAN KLEM	61	M	33/49	M6064	1:56:33	8:54
1528	TERRY KENNEY	68	M	11/19	M6569	2:04:16	9:29
1919	JENNIFER MACK	35	F	129/134	F3539	2:41:16	12:19

Gate City Team Results:

MALE OPEN TEAM Results (27 teams)
12. GCS-TRIAD RACING TEAM
1:12:29 1:18:41 1:19:55 1:20:33 1:23:07 = 6:34:45
1604 RICH SMITH 39, 1606 ERIK KREES 35, 1648 STEVE WOLFE 44, 1649
JOSEPH ROGERS 41, 1647 MICHAEL WADE 40


MALE MASTERS 40+ TEAM Results (21 teams)
10. GCS-TRIAD RACING TEAM
1:19:55 1:20:33 1:23:07 1:23:50 1:25:22 = 6:52:47
1648 STEVE WOLFE 44, 1649 JOSEPH ROGERS 41, 1647 MICHAEL WADE 40,
1642 STEVE TOMASI 51, 1641 JEREMIAH FITZGIBBON 52
NOTE: missing Randy MacNeill for some reason??


MALE SENIORS 50+ TEAM Results (20 teams)
4. GCS-TRIAD RACING TEAM
1:23:50 1:25:22 1:26:14 = 4:15:26
1642 STEVE TOMASI 51, 1641 JEREMIAH FITZGIBBON 52, 1640 LEN HALL 5


MALE VETERAN 60+ TEAM Results (3 teams)
2. GCS-TRIAD RACING TEAM
1:35:34 1:42:42 1:44:22 = 5:02:38
1631 JOHN LEWICKE 61, 1628 DENNY LEBLANC 67, 1630 STEVE MOLAND 65



FEMALE OPEN TEAM Results (30 teams)
12. GCS-TRIAD RACING TEAM
1:28:12 1:28:25 1:32:38 = 4:29:15
1611 KAREN LONG 43, 1612 KAREN PATTELENA 40, 1619 AMBER CULLEN 26



FEMALE MASTERS 40+ TEAM Results (18 teams)
2. GCS-TRIAD RACING TEAM
1:28:12 1:28:25 1:35:02 = 4:31:39
1611 KAREN LONG 43, 1612 KAREN PATTELENA 40, 1609 TAMMY GAFFEY 41